John Prescott: CC is to decide on presidential election fairness

PanARMENIAN.Net - RA National Assembly Speaker Tigran Torosian met Thursday with Mr John Prescott, who headed a group of parliamentarians from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) which observed the presidential election in Armenia on 19 February 2008.



Briefing on the post-election situation, Mr Torosian described the situation as the result of hatred and anger sown by Levon Ter-Petrosyan. "The protest actions and disorders in Yerevan had nothing to do with democracy. Under circumstances, imposition of state of emergency was a necessity," he said.



For his part, Mr Prescott said that as a representative of the Council of Europe he must render support to CoE member states ensure maximal democratic engagement in political life of the country. "If mass protests jeopardize security of the state, the authorities have the right to take action," he said.



"The CoE's goal is to present affair assessment of the electoral processes. Interim statement was published immediately after the election. The resulting report will be issued after promulgation of the Constitutional Court's decision."